To have gut reaction something's off.

[Carouselfish]

Live rurally. Lane with approx. 30 houses spread out over a mile, leading to small village (no shops) one way and main road the other way. Sunday, high snow banks on sides of road and slush all over. Driving into town, third of way up the lane, had to squeeze past group of 8 men, all about early thirties, very grumpy looking, with collection of dogs, mastiff, couple of lurchers, several little black terriers, making their way down towards the village.
I know it sounds very League of Gentlemen, but they weren't from the area, didn't have guns so not poaching, weren't dressed in wellies or walking boots or anything (I was passenger so had time to look). Would you just say large group of male friends who all have dogs out for a Sunday afternoon stroll somewhere random that was making them all very grumpy or what? It just seemed weird.
DP has suggested dognappers giving their stolen dogs a toilet break! I would have said poachers looking for places to come back to, especially as in the last couple of months have had two late at night incidences in the neighbouring field of people creeping about with dogs. But...they didn't look at all 'countryish'. Maybe those have made me paranoid...
MN verdict?

If you see or think you have seen suspicious activity involving wildlife have a look here

Sounds like dog fights or badger baiting

Lurchers are used for hare coursing. It is very sad.

Alicatz66 put more succinctly than me and absolutely right.

they would be dressed properly and presumably have shot guns ?

sorry
if shooting pheasants ...

Did you see any vehicles? It's worth informing your local police, there is action taken to stop this and your info might add to the Intel picture

I would contact the rural crime department of your local constabulary. This is what they are trained to look out for. Your information might be a piece in a jigsaw puzzle.

This, 100%. Please do report it OP. If they are innocent then no harm done.

Gypsies hare coursing

Maybe they had broken down and were peeved to be stuck in the countryside?

I'd guess hunting with dogs. We fostered a rescue lurcher from this kind of background. Lovely, friendly, calm dog with people but utterly murderous around small furries. She had obviously been trained to hunt and had scars over her face where the poor things had fought back. She was in very good shape otherwise and didn't seem to have been mistreated as such (which is sadly not always the case with lurchers).

As some have said, report it and if it is innocent then fair enough. I would trust your instincts.
If everyone gave the benefit the doubt there would be no such thing as intelligence gathering. Members of the public reporting suspicious sightings or activity are vital to detecting despicable crimes like badger baiting and dog fighting.

Dog fighting?

😂😂😂 storm in a tea pot 😂😂 hilarious. Been readings thread with the fascination.

Definitely hunting.
We had a group turn up near us recently. We're on a council estate but opposite woods, fields and the moors. A group of blokes in various cars and landrovers turned up one Sunday morning in the car park opposite and some of them disappeared into the woods with lurchers and they had walkie talkies. They looked incredibly out of place. A neighbour went to speak to them and they told him they were drag hunting. The neighbour went home and phoned the police.

I very bravely/stupidly went back out and got all the makes and reg numbers of the cars whilst speaking to my daughter who was playing nearby. We passed everything onto the police.

The men then came back, got some terriers and shovels and went back into the fields/woods. We decided they must have been badger baiting.

At which point I retreated back to my house, and from my living room window managed to get some very good photos of them with the dogs and spades which were all passed onto the police.

Unfortunately the police didn't arrive in time to catch them as there was another hunt, with horses and dogs rampaging through gardens nearby, but they did take it very seriously. A PCSO was at my house within about 30 minutes.

The neighbour who phoned the police had been a hunt saboteur so it wasn't until she was panicking because I'd taken photos that I realised I needed to have been careful, thankfully I was being anyway because I wanted to make sure I got good photos before they saw me. I hadn't thought about the possible consequences.

Definitely hare coursing. Absolutely vile, both the action and the perpetrators of it. Please inform the police about what you saw.

Dog fighting? V common v cruel look it up.

Yes, some form of hunting/ baiting I'm afraid.

Deffo Hare coursing. They trespass all the time round here to do it. They get grumpy if you see them